Walking toy figure

ABSTRACT

A walking toy figure, such as a doll, provided with mechanism designed to rock the body from side to side around a horizontal fore and aft axis with respect to a frame to which the legs are attached, thus causing the weight of the figure to be borne first by one leg and then by the other, the legs being pivoted for independent swinging movement about a transverse horizontal axis but interconnected so as to swing alternately, in a simulation of walking, as first one leg and then the other is burdened with the weight of the figure and the opposite leg is freed to swing forward.

United States Patent Inventors Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee WALKING TOY FIGURE 7 Claims, 11 Drawing Figs.

05. tCl.

1,764,330 6/1930 Marx 46/l 50 2,024,135 12/1935 Baker 46/149 2,739,417 3/1956 Ostrander 46/149 3,243,916 4/1966 Ryan 46/150 Primary Examiner-Robert Peshock Assistant Examiner-H. Dinitz Attorney-Brown and Seward ABSTRACT: A walking toy figure, such as a doll, provided with mechanism designed to rock the body from side to side around a horizontal fore and aft axis with respect to a frame to which the legs are attached, thus causing the weight 0f the figure to be borne first by one leg and then by the other, the legs being pivoted for independent swinging movement about a transverse horizontal axis but interconnected so as to swing alternately, in a simulation of walking, as first one leg and then the other is burdened with the weight of the figure and the opposite leg is freed to swing forward.

PATENTED AUG 3197;

SHEET 3 HF PATENTEUAUB 3|9Ti 3,596,398

sum 0F ATTORNEYS WALKING TOY FIGURE This invention relates to a walking toy figure, particularly a walking doll.

An object of the invention is to provide a mechanism for actuating the legs of a doll or the like to cause the latter to walk.

Another object is to provide a walking doll or the like wherein the legs of the doll swing forward to simulate walking as the doll body is rocked from side to side.

A further object is to provide certain improvements in the form, construction, arrangement and material of the several elements whereby the above-named and other objects may be attained.

The aforesaid objects and otherobjects which will become apparent as the description proceeds are achieved by mounting a frame structure within a doll body in a manner to provide oscillatory motion between the frame structure and the body whereby the legs, which are mounted on the frame structure, are alternately swung forward to. simulate walking as a function of the oscillatory motion between the frame structure and the body.

Practical embodiments of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. I is a front view, partly in section, of a walking doll constructed according to the invention, certain parts of which are shown in other figures being omitted for the sake of clarity.

FIG. 2 is a view taken along the line lI-Il of FIG. I. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the internal operating mechanism.

FIG. 4 is an elevation of the outer side of the leg disc.

FIG. 5 is a partial plan view of the leg-disc connection, parts of which are shown in section.

FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view taken along the line VI-Vl of FIG. 2 showing the doll body in an erect position.

FIG. 7 is similar to FIG. 6 but shows the doll body tilted to one side.

FIG. 8 is a view taken along the line VIIIVIII of FIG. I.

FIG. 9 is a partial plan view taken just above the front and rear axles of an alternate embodiment.

FIG. I0 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a further alternate embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a view looking along the line XI-JII of FIG. I0.

Referring to the drawings, FIG. I shows a doll body It) on which are mounted legs 12 and I3. The body and legs may be made hollow as shown of a suitable material such as plastic. The upper ends of each leg I2, I3 are received in openings I5, 16 in the side of the doll body 10. Each leg I2, 13 mounts a disc l8, l9 respectively, the latter being held in place on the legs by biasing means, indicated generally at 20 and 2I.

The biasing means 21 comprises a spring 22 having one end bearing against a plate 23 mounted in the leg I3 and at the other end bearing against the head of a rod 25. The rod 25 in turn is secured to the disc 19 by an S-shaped connecting piece 26 which extends into a central opening 27 in disc 19 and which has one end attached to the eye 28 at the end of rod 25 and the other end attached to a rod 30 mounted on the inner face of the disc 19. The rod 30 traverses the central opening 27 in the disc 19 and may be conveniently mounted in transverse grooves 31 on the inner face of the disc 19, all as shown in detail in FIG. 5. From the above description, it will be observed that the biasing means 21 urges and holds the disc I9 against the shoulder 32 on the leg I3.

Suitable detents may be provided between the disc 19 and leg 13 to secure the leg 13 in prescribed positions. The detents are shown as comprising depressions 34 in the outer face of disc 19 for receiving mating projections on the shoulder 32 of leg 13. It will be observed that the leg 13 may be manually grasped and forcibly rotated to disengage the detents, and thereafter rotated (tag. from an upright to a sitting position) until the detents are aligned and the spring 22 pulls them into engagement to secure the legs 13 in the new position. Four detents are shown in the drawings but any number may be provided as desired. These detents will not normally disengage unless it is desired to do so manually as described. Although only the biasing means 21 and detent arrangement for one leg has been described in detail, it will be understood that the other leg is arranged in the same manner.

Mounted within the body 110 is an operating mechanism for causing actuation of the legs in a manner to simulate walking. The mechanism comprises a frame structure, indicated generally at 36, mounted on a horizontal shaft 37 extending from front to rear of the doll body. The ends of the shaft 37 are supported in the front and rear walls of the doll body as by the bushings 38 and 39 (FIG. 2).

The frame 36 has an upper U-shaped plate section 40 having spaced uprights 41 and 42, and an inverted U-shaped lower plate section 44 having spaced flanges 45 and 46, the two sections 40 and 44 being suitably secured to one another as by rivets 47. The lower frame section 44 has upstanding front and rear lugs 48 and 49 respectively, provided with openings to receive the shaft 37.

The upper frame section 40 rotatably supports a shaft 50, the latter having one end extending beyond the upright 41 and mounting an eccentric connection comprising a disc 51 and a pin 52 on the disc offset from the centerline of shaft 50. The pin 52 rotatably carries a crank arm 54 extending upwardly in the doll body and rotatably mounted near one end of a rod 55, the latter extending from one side of the body to the other. The ends of the rod 55 are mounted in the sidewalls of the body as by the bushings 56 and 57 (FIG. 1).

From the above description, it will be evident that with the frame 36 maintained generally level (as will be described), rotation of disc SI (by driving means to be described) with its eccentric pin 52 will impart side-to-side rocking movement of the body I0 about the shaft 37. Thus, FIG. 7 shows the body tilted to the right as the eccentric pin 52, in its lowest position, has pulled the right-hand side of the body down. With the eccentric pin 52 at its highest position, the body will be tilted to the left.

Mounted between the uprights 41, 42 on the upper frame section 40 is an electric motor 58 (FIGS. 2 and 3) having a drive shaft 59 extending beyond the upright 42. The shaft 50 which drives the eccentric also extends beyond the upright 42, such that suitable reduction gearing, indicated generally at 61 in FIGS. 2, 6 and 7 (not shown in FIG. 3 for the sake of clarity), may be interposed between the two shafts 50 and 59. One or more stud shafts 62 (FIG. 3) may be mounted on the upright 42 to support the reduction gearing 61. From the above description, it will be evident that the motor 58 is operable to drive the eccentric shaft 50 through the reduction gearing 61 and thereby rock the body 10 from side to side about the shaft 37.

Mounted in the flanges 45, 46 of the lower frame section 44 is a front shaft 63, a rear shaft 64, and a pair of pivotal L- shaped levers and 66. The ends of the front and rear shafts 63 and 64 extend beyond the flanges 45 46 of the lower frame section 44 and are received in openings in the leg discs I8, I9, the openings for the rear shaft being shown at 68 and 69 respectively, and the opening (only one shown) for the front shaft 63 (in the disc I9) being shown at 70 (FIGS. 5 and 8). To increase the support area between the front shaft 63 and the discs l8, 19, an extension may be provided on the discs as indicated at 67 in FIG. 5. The rear shaft 64 will be prevented from axial shifting by the shoulders 32. on the legs. To prevent axial displacement of the front shaft 63, one end of the latter may be flattened slightly (not shown) and the other end provided with a lockwasher 7I accommodated in the depression shown at 72 in FIG. 5.

As will be further described, the legs 12, I3 swing or rotated about the front shaft 63 as the doll walks.

The front shaft 63 is carried in openings in the flanges 45, 46 of frame 36. The rear shaft 64 is carried in an opening on a central downward depending lug 73 and extends through ver tically elongated slots 74, 75 in the flanges 45, 46. The opening in the lug 73 is approximately the same diameter as the rear shaft 64 or just slightly larger, the arrangement being such that the shaft 64 is free to be rocked about the opening in lug 73 as a fulcrum with the slots 74, 75 serving as guides and as stops to limit the degree of rocking motion.

The L-shaped levers 65, 66 are mounted for pivotal movement on the flanges 45, 46 as by the pivot mountings 76, 77. The levers 65, 66 have openings 78, 79 for receiving the rear shaft 64 such that pivotal movement of the levers 65 66 about their pivot mountings 76, 77 will rock the shaft 64 about the opening in lug 73. The forward ends of the levers 65, 66 are located rearwardly of the front shaft 63.

Secured to the lower portion of the body below the frame 36 is a resilient means, indicated generally at 81, for actuating the levers 65, 66 so that the latter will rock the rear shaft 64 longitudinally about lug 73 as previously described. The resilient means 81 shown as comprising a leaf spring 82 having end sections underlying the forward downward depending portions 65, 66' of the levers 65, 66. The leaf spring 82 at its center section, is secured to a strap 83, the latter in turn being secured to the body by the fasteners 84 and an elongated rod 85.

To operate the above-described mechanism, the motor 58 is turned on by a switch 87 (FIG. 2) which is operable externally of the body. The switch 87 starts the motor 58 by connecting the latter to dry cell batteries 88 via the electrical conductors 89, the batteries 88 being mounted at a suitable place in the body 10, as on the platform 90. The electric motor 58 drives the eccentric pin 52 through the reduction gearing 61, the eccentric pin in turn reciprocating the crank arm 54 to rock the body 10 from side to side about the shaft 37 as previously described. Reciprocating movement of the bar 54 rocks the body 10, rather than the frame 36, the latter being prevented from rocking by the legs 12, 13 which are mounted to the frame 36 and which stand on a flat supporting surface 8.

As the body is rocked or tilted to one side (to the right as shown in FIG. 7 for example) the weight of the body is shifted to the right leg 12. The right leg 12, therefore, tends to push up with a greater reaction force on the ends of shafts 63 and 64 due to the engagement of the latter in the openings 70, 69 respectively in leg disc 19. As a result, the tendency is for the rear shaft 64 which is centrally mounted on the lug 73, to rock about the lug 73. As viewed in FIG. 7, the rear shaft 64 is rocked counterclockwise about lug 73 as indicated by the arrow 91.

Since the disc openings 68, 69 which receive the ends of rear shaft 64 and the disc openings 70 (only one shown) which receive the ends of front shaft 63 are spaced apart (see FIG. 8), and since the legs 12, 13 are pivoted about the front shaft 63, it will be evident that the aforesaid counterclockwise rocking of rear shaft 64 about lug 73 will urge the left end (FIG. 7) of rear shaft 64 downwardly to thereby rotate the leg disc 19 and the left leg 13, about front shaft 63, in a forward direction, i.e. in a direction as if the leg 13 was taking a forward step.

In addition to the abovedescribed weight reaction force resulting from the tilting of the body to cause longitudinal rocking of rear shaft 64, a further force is also simultaneously applied to tending to rock the rear shaft 64 longitudinally in the same direction. This force is applied by the resilient means 81 through the levers 65, 66.

Referring to FIG. 7, it will be observed that tilting the body 10 to the right causes the left half of leaf spring 82 to rise and contact the downward depending section 66' of lever 66. As a result the lefi side (FIG. 7) of leaf spring 82 s flexed and the resulting resilient force tends to pivot lever 66 about pivot 77 in a clockwise direction (as viewed from the right side of the doll). Since the lever 66 has an opening receiving the rear shaft 64, the aforesaid clockwise pivotal movement of lever 66 will urge the left end of rear shaft 64 downwardly (FIG. 7), as the latter rocks longitudinally about lug 73, to complement the previously described weight reaction force, in urging the left leg 13 to take a forward step. I

In addition to the above, a third force is also applied tending to swing the left leg 13 forward. This third force is a gravitational force resulting from the offset pivotal mounting of the legs 12, 13. Thus, as viewed in FIG. 2, it will be observed that the front shaft 63 about which the legs pivot, is forward of the center of gravity CG of the legs by the distance d. Consequently, each leg is urged to take a forward step because of the tendency of the center of gravity of each leg to seek a position underlying the front shaft 63. Thus, with the body tilted to one side, for example to the right as shown in FIG. 7, and the weight thereof placed on the right leg 12, the left leg 13 will tend to free itself of the supporting surface S such that gravity will be effective to apply a force urging a forward swinging or stepping movement of the left leg 13.

Although the above describes how the left leg 13 is urged forward to take a step when the body 10 is rocked or tilted to the right, it will be readily evident that the right leg 12 is urged forward in the same manner as the body 10 is rocked or tilted to the left. Consequently, rocking of the body from side to side will alternately advance the two legs to cause the doll to walk.

It will be observed that the three forces tending to advance each leg forward, i.e. the weight reaction force, the force applied by the levers 65, 66, and the gravity-actuated force, are complementary so that any one (or two) may be employed without the other two (or one). Thus, one alternate embodiment includes elimination of the levers 65, 66 and leaf spring 82 so that only the weight reaction force and gravity force actuate the legs. Another alternate embodiment includes the elimination of the rear shaft 64 and the use of a stud shaft 93 (FIG. 9) secured to each lever 65, 66 and passing through the elongated slots 74, 75 in the flanges 46, 45 of the frame 36. It will be apparent that the leaf spring 82 will pivot the levers 65, 66 and actuate the attached stud shafts 93 (only one shown) to swing the legs in a forward direction.

The gravity actuation of the legs may be the sole actuating force for the legs, a specific embodiment of such an arrangement being described in detail in our copending application Ser. No. 511,507, filed Dec. 3, I965, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,300,892 issued .Ian. 31, I967.

As a further alternate embodiment, the side-to-side rocking mechanism i.e. motor 58, reduction gearing 61, eccentric disc 51, pin 52, bar 54, and rod 55 may be eliminated and the body rocked from side to side by grasping the hand or other part of the doll and manually rocking the latter from side to side. In another embodiment (FIG. 10) the body is rocked from side to side by an external manipulated operator, indicated generally at 94, comprising a base member 95 fixedly mounting a lower handle 96 and rotatably mounting an upper handle 97. A flexible cable 98 rotatably mounted on the base member 95 has a crank arm 99 engaged by a lug 100 formed integral with the upper handle 97. It will be evident that alternately squeezing the rightand left-hand halfs of the two handles 96, 97 will rotatably rock the shaft 98. The shaft 98, which may be encased within a sheath 101, leads to the inside of the doll body 100 where it is connected to a crank ann member 102 mounting a crank pin 103, the latter extending into the body 100. A strap 104 secured to the frame 36a extends upwardly and terminates in a U-shaped end which straddles the crankpin 103. With the pin 103 bearing against the sides of the U-shaped end 105, rocking of flexible shaft 98 will displace the body 10a relative to the strap 104 and frame 36a to thereby rock the body from side to side about shaft 37.

It will be understood that various modifications may be made to the above-described embodiments. For example, the frame structure 36 may be modified to extend further up into the body to mount the motor and reduction gearing. Also the batteries may be located externally and an electrical plug provided on the body. As a further alternative, the electric motor and batteries may be replaced by a spring-powered mechanical windup motor.

It will be understood that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the several pans without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention,

and hence we do not intend to be limited to the details shown or described herein except as the same are included in the claims or may be required by disclosures of the prior art.

What we claim is:

l. A walking doll or the like having a body with legs comprising, upper and lower frame elements, means joumaiing said frame elements to said body for relative oscillatory movement about a substantially horizontal fore and aft axis, drive means between the upper frame element and the body operable to rock the body from side to side relative to said frame elements, leg-mounting means securing each leg pivotally to the lower frame element for swinging movement independently about a horizontal axis, and a shaft interconnecting the legs to swing each leg forward alternately in a simulation of walking as the body is rocked from side to side said shaft extending across the lower frame element, engaging each legmounting means and being journaled for rocking movement with respect to said lower frame element.

2. A walking doll or the like according to claim 1 which includes means for guiding and limiting the rocking movement of said shaft.

3. A walking doll or the like according to claim 1 in which the leg-mounting means comprises pivot supports for the legs said pivot supports being disposed forward of the center of gravity of the legs when the latter are supporting the body in a normal erect position.

4. A walking doll or the like according to claim 3 in which the shaft is spaced rearwardly from said pivot supports.

5. A walking doll or the like according to claim 4 which includes levers pivotally mounted on said lower frame element, a mechanical connection between said levers and the shaft interconnecting the legs and resilient means mounted on said body in a position to alternately pivot said levers upon side-toside rocking movement of said body thereby alternately urging the legs to swing forward.

6. A walking doll or the like according to claim 1 in which the drive means includes a motor mounted on the upper frame element, a gear train and a crank connection between the gear train and the doll body.

7. A walking doll or the like according to claim 1 in which the drive means is operable externally of the body. 

1. A walking doll or the like having a body with legs comprising, upper and lower frame elements, means journaling said frame elements to said body for relative oscillatory movement about a substantially horizontal fore and aft axis, drive means between the upper frame element and the body operable to rock the body from side to side relative to said frame elements, legmounting means securing each leg pivotally to the lower frame element for swinging movement independently about a horizontal axis, and a shaft interconnecting the legs to swing each leg forward alternately in a simulation of walking as the body is rocked from side to side said shaft extending across the lower frame element, engaging each leg-mounting means and being journaled for rocking movement with respect to said lower frame element.
 2. A walking doll or the like according to claim 1 which includes means for guiding and limiting the rocking movement of said shaft.
 3. A walking doll or the like according to claim 1 in which the leg-mounting means comprises pivot supports for the legs said pivot supports being disposed forward of the center of gravity of the legs when the latter are supporting the body in a normal erect position.
 4. A walking doll or the like according to claim 3 in which the shaft is spaced rearwardly from said pivot supports.
 5. A walking doll or the like according to claim 4 which includes levers pivotally mounted on said lower frame element, a mechanical connection between said levers and the shaft interconnecting the legs and resilient means mounted on said body in a position to alternately pivot said levers upon side-to-side rocking movement of said body thereby alternately urging the legs to swing forward.
 6. A walking doll or the like according to cLaim 1 in which the drive means includes a motor mounted on the upper frame element, a gear train and a crank connection between the gear train and the doll body.
 7. A walking doll or the like according to claim 1 in which the drive means is operable externally of the body. 